*Still Beauty

This is a new series of posts I will publish every week, with the title "Outfit of the week", which really is very self explanatory.

This week goes to Cara Delenvigne, in Saint Laurent at the Brit Awards. I love everything about this look. This very dark red really suits Cara and I love her makeup as well, a bit more bronzy, a bit more tanned, it is very summery and also works well with her darker hair shade.

I am not usually super-excited about her personal style when she does not go for formal events, but I really think she killed it this time.

Being original, being cool are one of the most sought after things is this over-shared and over-visualized social media world. You look at street style heroines and their seemingly effortless style, they way they wear those jeans and the way their hair is parted, it all looks perfect. And we want to be perfect, this is why we buy and follow trends and trendy items.

But how many times did we ask ourselves how not to be a mere copy of more famous people but to be original and stand out on our own? Believe me, a lot of times!

I put this post together from different products I have seen and tested overtime, which I think are good and can instantly give you a quirky look.

• Marvis toothpaste: this italian toothpaste brand is 50 years old and produces one of the nicest and most effective whitening toothpastes around. The packaging is super cool and the tastes it comes with are very peculiar and to die for (e.g. jasmine minth, amarelli liquorice or cinnamon). Plus point they also sell travel size versions of these so they are also very good to slip in your luggage before travelling

• Les Merveilleuses Ladurée: you probably know Ladurée as the patisserie that produces the most famous french macarons. However just a couple of months ago they released with the collaboration of Sephora this beauty line that counts fards, eyeshadows, hand cream and soap. The all have good reviews online and their packaging is to die for, absolutely divine, creating baroque style containers for the makeup products. They can seem like quite of an investment, but you can easily double them as home decor.

• Liquides parfume: You'll find these in the company's boutique in Paris, or for the UK at liberty.co.uk. The boutique sells a mix of independent parfume brands and it is the place to find something unique. Having your signature scent, and not sharing it with tons of other women across the world is certainly something that will make you feel unique. I personally did that when I created my personal scent at Molinard in France.

 These are just three items, but the general advice here, is that not always famous is better, quality or originality wise.

I recently chnged my skincare routine out of a case. I spent the night at my boyfriend's place for a couple of night in a row and as I wasn't wearing makeup at all and I skipped my night clean up. I was feeling a little lazy and I thought that the wipes would have been too harsh as there was nothing to take off.

In the morning I noticed that my usual redness was gone and my skin felt clean and soft, so I decided to repeat the experiment and actually noticed that my skin was much better skipping off this treatment.

I did a little online research about it and I did find out a correlation between over-cleaning and irritating the skin. Apparently it is not only about too harsh cleansers but also about the quantity of cleaning, so if too little is not good, too much is definitely not better.

So I would advise you if you have like me combination skin, or dry or normal skins to reduce your cleaning from twice a day to just once. Obviously be aware that you NEED to clean your skin if you wear make up, so you clean at night but you don't in the morning. If you like to go barefaced than you can actually choose when to clean, but I still reccomend doing that in the evening to take off any pollution or dirt deposited from the outer environment.

Highlighters are the perfect finishing touch to any make up, in fact they can be your only make up.

I have beeen using regularly 2 different highlighters, the Artdeco anti aging concealer (don't be misguided by the name, it's a good highlighter, on the pattern of the Touche Eclat) and the Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up. I also recently added to my make up bag the Touche Eclat by YSL not because I needed it but it was a gift.

There is a difference between the benefit Watt's Up and the other two as this one is a more traditional highlighter, in that that you cannot use it as a concealer as well. I heard about it first from an interview that Sara Sampaio gave to Nylon magazine (spoiler alert: she's such a babe!) where she said she used it as a finishing touch for her every-day non-makeup makeup look. I was really curious for a couple of reasons:
1) I never used a proper highlighter before
2) Non-makeup looks are my favourite thing right now
3) I fell instantly in love with Sara after her Victoria's Secret fashion segments and I really think she has a very healthy look

So I got the highlighter with an amazing deal on Ebay. This kind of product, a creamy stick, is quite shimmery so it cannot be used as a concealer as it will leave sparkles on your skin, very suble ones, but still sparkles.

The Benefit highlighter can be used:

• in the inner corner of the eye, a little touch is perfect
• on cupid's bow
• down the bridge of your nose
• over your brows in a little line
• on your cheek bones

Generally the guide line is use it where light would hit your face or to get a nice point of line to redifine makeup (lipstick and eye make up). A trick that I discovered while playing with it and testing it on my face is: put a little dab on your eyelid, it gives your eye a real shine that can be achieved only with very good lights or  lot of champagne coloured eyeshadow; but this is less drastic and more natural looking, making your eyes instantly luminous, but without any make up being visible.

Touche Eclat and Artdeco are on the other hand, liquid makeup in a pencil that facilitates distribution. Both f them are really good products and quite pricy (if you want a good price of the Artdeco try to buy it in Germany, there the whole line can be found at a fraction of the Uk price, mainly because the brand is German itself).

Since this is  more a tutorial-kind of post I will generally tell you the application for both products as it is the same. These liquid concealers/highlighter do not contain shimmer or sparkles, their aim is more to give you a rested look than a glowy skin, which means that there are other focal points for their application.

These products can be used:

• over your brows, or just under for a little contour
• down the bridge of your nose
• on the cheeck bones
• on the sides on your nose
• on your dark circles
• around your lips again for a little contour
• on your forehead
• on the nasal-mouth lines (just to be understandable by everyone, on those big line that form when you smile from your nose to your mouth)

As you can see these products play with light in a different way, if the Benefit cosmetics works to attract and reflect light, these work on minimizing the shadows on your face.

Generally it could be argued that the Touche Eclat/Artdeco formula is well adapted for slightly older skins were it can minimize wrinkles and work as a eye area lifter when put around the eyes, while the Benefit one is more aimed at a yourger skin as wrinkles are not a problem and a glowy skin is required. Let's not forget though that these products can be combined when we are dealing with a more complete makeup look. If we want a full Oscar red-carpet look than together these formulas work wonders. With Touche Eclat on the sides on your nose, around lips and on your forehead and Watt's Up on yuor eyes, nose bridge and cheeckbones you can achieve a complete killer look.

I would like to finish off this post with a quote from Blair Waters, a Nylon magazine executive producer and contributor, about Touche Eclat: "A magical product. A couple days a week I’ll just wear this, without anything else—because If you look too pretty all the time, people don’t trust you."

I recently was involved with my university's charity fashion show, this is why I haven't been posting for a while.This post is basically about a designer that really hit my immagination when I saw her creations backstage at the fashion show.

Rachel Mcmillan is a 23 years old Glasvegian that won a Scottish Fashion Award just six months after openig her fashion label. This really reflects the talent of this young and gorgeous woman.

Rachel has a very unique and modern personal style that permitted her to have her own show during London Fashion Week, and while her clothes are still very affordable for the beauty and quality the come with, you will certainly find yourself with a head-turning fashion piece.

Rachel's style is in my opinion very scottish, the dark blues and greens, the purples and black are very reminiscent in their shades of the traditions tartan colours, non very light, but vibrant in their darkness.

The patters are also very interesting, not always very big and more lines of colours tight together that form flashes of light, a bit like multi-coloured windows of gothic cathedrals.

Rachel Mcmillan is surely my new fashion obsession and I will raid her online shop for sure!

Working or studying means numerous hours in front of a computer. So why not make the most of it and incorporate some simple beauty steps in it?
This is the ultimate guide to what should always be on your desk with you.

Water. The first and untimate beauty need, a good hydrated skin and body comes from the inside.

Hand cream. Putting on hand cream can take away some of your time, mainly because you need to massage it and wait until it is absorbed, but doing that while you're reading a paper or reviewing something can be a very easy and non-distracting way of multi-tasking

Mists. Mists are the utlimate way to keep your skin hydrated after long hours of climatisation exposure. Spay some on th eyelids as well, as your eyes dry up as well if the outside environment is not adeguate.

Lip balm and lipgloss. These are perfect to keep your lips well hydrated and unchapped, easy also to freshen up your make up in case you need to go somewhere stright away.

There's really not much more you need on your desk with you, it is still work what you're doing and not a spa session, but these little things will help you cope better wit the stress.

France has probably some of the best beauty lines in the world, and some of the more cheap ones are actually amazing too. So here are some products that you should buy if you happen to be in Paris, without spending gazillions on a cream. If you can't fly all the way to France for them amazon and other online stores will do just fine.

The products I am talking about are found in pharmacies, so no need for sephora or magasins Printemps. these products are sworn by make up artists, models and beauty insiders for a reason, because they are amazing.

La Roche-Posay, Effaclar A.I. Correcteur Ciblé des Imperfections. This product is the best you can find for pimples! It dries them over night and prevents them from leaving marks.

Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré. I first heard about this when Sara Sampaio reccomended it for her sensitive and break out prone skin, then I read quite a few make up artists having it. Basically it is a multi-purpose cream, that can be a make up remover, a mask and a primer besides being obviously a good moisturizing cream.

Bioderma Créaline H2O Solution Micellaire, this micellar wwater is a make up remover and a cleanser, and generally the secret weapon of every French woman ( I wrote a review here).

Homeoplasmine. This is a beauty insider product that basically substitutes Vaseline. it works wonders for winter ravaged lips or chapped skin. You will need to ask the pharmacist for this one as it is usually stored behind counter.

Now with your shopping list done, go and buy your beauty products. I hope you'll be strolling down les Champs élisées, but if that is not the case you can always play "Je t'aime, moi non plus" while you stock up on these products online; and don't worry you're not the only one who thinks that she should go back to Paris!

We all have watched infinite numbers of tutorials for the perfect smokey eye or for the polished and sexy red lip in order to look at our best on a night out, but it is also crucial to be able to maintain the look even after drinks and hours of sweaty, drunk dancing.

We all know our judgement on how much make up we should put on becomes inappropriate after a couple of drinks; and we also know the disasters that can happen if we decide to put on falsies or eyeliner. Let's face it we almost cannot draw that straight line when sober...

So here are the products we should take with us on a night out to apply in between those long queues at the lady's room without the fear to transform ourselves into a clown.

1) Sephora detergent remover swabs, they new frontier to metropolitan beauty. They are little swabs that contain make up remover, easy peasy to use, impossible to mess around with and you can slip them in the tiniest bag. These are great when your eye make up starts giving up and smudging too much. Also great form lipstick in case it becomes messy!

2) Mascara. It is almost impossible to get mascara wrong, it will accentuate your looks without messing it up. Don't put it on the lower lash line, after a few hours of dancing, drinking and late night the bags and dark circles under your eyes will reappear and you'd only accentuate them. Plus you don't want to leave black dots all over your cheek.

3) Concealer. Again almost impossible to get it wrong, to be used on said dark circles, and any redness that appeared during the night. The lights in a club are also not so flattering, very cold and greenish, so you'd like your paler than usual skin to look still alive.

4) Red lipstick. This will remove the attention from the eyeliner that is smudging and the dark circles under your eyes. Generally lipstick will have left your lips by this time in the night, or it will be kind of patchy, so you'd reapply it anyway

These are all the make  up products you need on a night out, now go and have fun! And when you come back home remember to tak off your make up and drink a glass of water before going to bed to avoid a hangover!

Organic skincare is something we hear a lot about recently. Myself, I wrote an article about how to use what would become food waste in our daily care ( you can read it here). Maybe it is just a trend following the general fitness and healthy food promotion, maybe it is actually the direction that the market has taken. Surely the word "organic" itself inspires confidence, what could be wrong in something that comes from nature? But is this exactly true? And are the so called organic products really effective on the skin?

First of all a clarification must be made, and this is where organic chemistry comes in. Organic chemistry is the study of all the living or once living matter and it doesn't mean healthy or good for you at all; poison ivy, gasoline, motor oil, plastic synthetic fibers, pesticides and fertilizers are all organic, in the same way shampoos, conditioners and chemical texturizers are all organic, as they contain carbon and hydrogen. So labelling and actually knowing the company you buy from it is key.

.What about effectiveness of these product? This is a more debatable question. To have a such long shelf life, it is very probable that some conservants and stabilizers were added.

Personally I am attracted to organic, or biological beauty, I am a big fan of Yves Rocher, for example (and they have a wonderful company ethics) and I think that for young women it is something actually useful and good. I think it makes a great introduction of a beauty routine in a teenager for example. But these skins, as you probably realized, are young and almost perfect on their own, they don't need big stimuli, they just need to be taken care of. However, the older skins are the ones that are more in need of a push, they start to need anti-aging compounds, lifters and fillers. Here is the problem, can nature actually provide this?

There are many plants known for their beneficial properties in these areas, but it is here where packaging and conservants come in. Organic products are conservant free (as conservant are not natural compounds) so their shelf life is very reduced. What happens is that when you buy the product it will be fresh, and it's active ingredients will work their magic on your skin. You will have positive results in the first week or two of use. What happens next it's not so good. Natural, plant of food derived products decay. If you leave over one of those masks made out from your food you'll see it will rot. This will not happen to your organic skincare line as most products are dried up or processed somehow to acquire the conformation needed, be it creamy, gelly or liuid., nevertheless, the active ingredients will decay, vitamins and anti-oxidants will be lost (these are some of the main components of organic products) and slowily the efficacy of your product will be lost too. Here the packaging plays a big role, if you buy creams in jars, then this decay will happen faster as the contact with air will spoil the product.

Now let's talk about the good side of organic skin care products. They are usually the nicer ones for your skin and the most delicate ones as well. As I said it is a good option for young skins, as the input that these skins need is minimal.

I recomend that general moisturizers, like hand and feet, or body and lips comes from organic products. Especially lips, as you will be prone to eat some of it. Natural oils are perfect for moisturizing and will perfectly do thir job on you without adding too many non-necessary compounds and without the risk to create reactions. Oils are also good for hair masks, oh the silkiness that results from soaking your hair in pure argan oil!

I also reccomend trying shampoos, soaps and shower gels. The goal here is simply cleaning up, so if an organic product can do that efficiently there is really no need to switch to some chemical one.

The same way, a make up remover that is completely natural is a good choice, again the only purpose is cleaning up, and as cleansers could come in contact with eyes or mouth, the less chemicals in it the better.

I am very curious about other opinions inthe matter, what do you think about organic skin care?

Hair is a big part of our appearence and it is normal that we want it to be as beautiful as it can be. Our locks can become a signature, a style that distinguishes us from the others. Just think about Edie Campbell's change of hairstyle from long blonde to short black and how it greatly affected her career; or Kate Moss's blonde  bed nest.

What is now a generenal trend for hair is not to try too much, you shouldn't look like you just stepped out of a salon, but more like "yes, this is how my hair looks every day; yes, you can be envious". To achieve that look there are some steps you can take, from when you are at the hairdresser's to every-day life.

The least polished, the sexier. Your look shouldn't be uniform, a bit worn in, a bit model of duty will work perfectly for an effortless look.

Go for easy upkeeps. Let's face it, you study or work at least 9h a day, constantly travelling and running from a place to another. You barely have the time to give yourself a manicure. You don't have a lot of time to spend in a hair salon, nor the energy. For an easy maintenance took try not to cut too drammatically, but get a hairstyle that will grow nicely in time, and don't die your roots, keep highlights away from them and you won't need to go every month to get a touch up.

Styling. If you don't have the time to let your hair dry naturally, or just don't like the final result of that, you can blowdry (wear heat protection!) and flat out all the baby hair. Then mess-up the hair to give an worn-in look with dry texture sprays, like sea salt sprays or dry shampoos. You can touch up a bit with the iron curler to get some beachy waves, but if you do this again spray heat protection, there is nothing sexy in dry hair with split ends!

Brushes. Use bristle and round brushes to add volume and shine, normal flat brushes for smoothings or updos.

It is quite easy to get a good hair day if you follow these steps, it is impossible for almost every one to get out of bed every day with perfect hair,but with the right care it can get there. Remember, especially if you're using iron for flat or curly hair updos to take the right care of your tresses, have a hair mask one a month or so, it could be just some oil or egg yolk to deeply nourish it and make it stronger.

When you change your cream or your skin routine you want to assess the new product the most unbiasedly possible. The best way to do so and enhance the results of the new beauty program is by preparing your skin for the changement.

Usually when we change cream or beauty routine it is because we are not fully satisfied with what we have, maybe the cream we were using was worng and did more harm that good, or maybe our skin got used to it and the results are not as good as once, or we might simply just want to change.

To assess the new cream without the baggage of past errors the bet thing to do is try to erase those errors. We can achieve this by having a facial. facial massages are one of the most relaxing things ever and always feel like some kind of luxury. Personally I think that it is wrong considering luxury spending time and paying people to take care of us, but that is the general view.

Goig for a facial is not only a very relaxing experience to sooth us from uor stressful life, but it is also great for the skin. Professional hands using professional products in a professional way is always the best way to go.

I suggest that when going for a facial before changing beauty routine, you ask for a deep cleansing of the face. It always has to be delicate on your skin: when asked it is always better to say you have sensitive skin, even if it is not true, you never know what new product could irritate your skin and generally products developed for sensitive or baby skins are more gentle and less damaging, you really don't want to go to a facialist and get our worse then when you got in!

A deep cleansing of the face is the first and most important step (be careful with peels as they are at times irritating), get all the dirt out of those pores and then close them up. Also ask for a massage that will plump and invigorate the elasticity of your skin.

You might ask at this point how to assess the efficacy of the cream on what is the best version of your skin, but the answer is that a good cream will let your skin stay the way it already is, maybe making it a bit better. If your skin is already suffering there is little a cream could do alone.

An excerpt from How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits


Au naturel

It is almost impossible to resolve the great mystery of what is natural. Because, in fact, nothing is
natural. Parisiennes will have you believe that they are born with perfect skin and delightfully messy
hair. That from the cradle onward they exude a scent worthy of Chanel N°5. That these “natural”
attributes are a heritage that cannot be explained.

They are all lying.

Au naturel is the fruit of hard labor, meticulously passed down from generation to generation. What
follows is a series of unusual tips that could be summed up as follows: how to take care of yourself
while giving the impression that you don’t take care of yourself. It is the art of beauty—the Parisian

way.

ON SKIN
Skin should look natural. Freckles can appear in spring along with the first rays of sunshine.
Sometimes your cheekbones blush when you lie, and your whole face flushes when you are
intimidated. You must not stifle the stories behind the natural coloring of your skin. For this reason, it
must be shown, revealed, exposed.

HOW: Frenchwomen avoid using foundation, which merely serves as a shroud and therefore
trivializes.

There is a whole range of invisible artifices that can be used instead. Invisible and yet convincing—it
is all about the varnish. In the same way as painters would “prepare” their canvas before adding any
color (these preparations were kept secret and their recipe would disappear with the artist at his
death), the skin of your face must be treated as a canvas.
Start with a moisturizer to smooth your skin, which professionals swear by. Then hide any
imperfections (bags under your eyes, the sides of your nose, pimples) with concealers (such as Yves
Saint Laurent’s Touche Éclat) or a BB cream. If you really can’t live without your foundation, then
mix it with a touch of moisturizer to mute its effect. And a few strokes of mascara (Hypnôse by
Lancôme)—be generous on your top and bottom lashes, to accentuate your look and disguise any bags
under your eyes—and bright red lipstick (Dior Addict) will not go amiss for a night out.



And this is how ladies I decided to convert myself to Parisianism, the worshipping of parisian women and the endless quest to be one.

Au revoir!

Selfies are part of our almost daily routine, be it Fecebook, Snapchat, Twitter or showing off your new sunnies, selfies allow us to capture a precise moment of our life, so how can we upgrade the selfie game?

1. Bring a friend along. Sometimes taking selfies, or too many selfies can be perceived as narcissistic, but if we bring a friend along the picture has suddenly a more positive impact.
2. Place yourself in front of light, not the computer light, which is very pale and you might risk to look like a ghost, but try a window, sunlight after all is always the most flattering light.
3. Be aware of the shape of your face. Long oval face= camera held slightly low, round or squared face= camera held slightly high. Your nose also plays a role in this, if you have a long nose you don't want to make it longer by taking a picture from above where perspective will make it look much more important than it is. On the contrary a picture taken slightly from below will make it appear shorter. Same thing goes for big foreheads.
4. Look at your eyes. If you can see dark circles hold the camera a bit low, you don't want to emphasise them, even if your selfie titles "I am sooo tired"
5. Hold your phone the further away possible from your face. You don't want to scare anyone who opens your snapchat! Plus the further away the less your skin/make up imperfections will be seen, and your face will look nicely framed
6. Flip your hair before taking the picture, this will add some natural, messy extra volume
7. Slightly bend your neck to the side to make your picture look less static.
8. Show other details rather than simply your face, maybe uncover your ear to so your new earrings, or touch your face with your hand and show your manicure or your rings, This will add extra-details to your picture and make it seem overall more full
9. Lift slightly your chin to create a point of light in your face. This will make sure that your lower face will get light and exposure as much as the upper part
10. Give your best smile, the one that suits you best, you know it, use it. Because nothing in the end is prettier than a beautiful smile.

Et voilà! Here the 10 tips for the perfect selfie.

I started using micellar water last year as a general cleanser. I read about it as I was endlessly reading on how to acquire that perfect french skin glow.

It emerged after the parisian women chose this over tab water to wash their face, as Paris is famous for it's bad water. It is designed to be swept away without rinsing off and leaves your skin clean and hydrated. to take make up and dirt away micellar water relies on little micelle particles that take them away from the skin. I am quite wary about using it as a make up remover, as I think it might not be as strong as the normal bi-phase remover, but since they are soap and alcohol free they are a nice alternative for more sensitive skins. It is still not an option for eye make up, as it is usually more strong and the area is very delicate.

Most women don't know that some sensible skin type are actually left dehydrated from water, and I always felt that was the case, plus Parisian water may not be good, but how do we know if ours is? I am also quite wary of using cleansers and soaps to wash my face every morning and then again at night to remove smog particles dirt as well as make up. So reading a description of the product I decided to give it a go, as anyway most of them are not expensive.

I bought from Superdrug at a mere £3.30 the Garnier micellar water which is 200mL exactly an year ago and still I have left little less than half the bottle, so money wise it is a good investment. The Garnier one is a gentle cleanser and doesn't feel sticky at all (one of the complaints of some micellar waters) and it really feels like it is deeply cleaning my face it does live it a bit toned and hydrated. I use it also as a make up remover when I only wear my concealer as for full face make up I prefer a traditional cleanser, but it does work well as a make up remover.

I use it in the morning to strip off the oils that the skin produced in the night and use it again in the evening to clean it from make up. dirt and sebum.

I found this product amazing, dirty cheap but leaves my skin less irritated and ready to absorb creams, as they are better absorbed if the skin is lightly damped.

I cannot stop recommending it and will buy another bottle soon enough as I finish this one, which probably will be in at least 6 months.

SkinBetter is a new app related to the beauty industry. I first read about it in Cosmopolitan among other apps, and decided to give it a go. I was surprised it was free, as usually apps that promise good performances have to be paid for, which is something I have no intention to do, ever.

After downloading it I had to sign up with my email, which is nothing new and had to take a picture of my face following some guideline. A tip I can give you is go to a well lit place possibly in front of a mirror as you can't take the picture with the front camera, as its resolution is too low to obtain results and the app will ask you to take another picture. Looking yourself in the mirror and superimposing your face with the template while trying to actually take a picture is quite a long and frustrating process. After you've done that the app will analyse the picture and ask you to redefine some eye, nose and mouth parameters and then will load again.

Then the app will ask you your age, what are your main skin concerns, type of skin and skin color and also skin sensitivity. Then the cool part starts. A new page will show you your skin according to the concerns you highlighted, and for example show you the appearance of the first fine lines, spots that have not yet developed but will in the future if not controlled by sunscreen, You can also see which areas are the most prone to develop redness and spots.

The next page is dedicated to your treatment. Well this is the part I like the less, according to your problems and concerns the app will advise you to buy certain creams serums and products, which would be fine if the number of products wan't that small and that expensive, seriously a serum for £200? There is no absolute low cost option, and this is probably how they're trying to make up for the fact that the app itself is free. Also the people behind the app are actual dermatologists, so if they're not advertising their own lines they might be correlated to the brands advertised.

However if you skip this part, or just research online the components of the products advised and try to find something else containing them, it is a good app to show you your skin and how it will develop. It is almost like going to the dermatologist, almost , but it is free and still effective.

We probably all read about all those diy masks, creams or serums, made from starch only with products in your fridge. I don't know what can be found in people's fridges but in mine I can't find at least all at once, fresh cinnamon, honey, apple cider vinegar, papaya, eggs that I don't want to eat and strawberries. So in my case going for food shopping ust to prepare a home made mask is a counter-sense.

However food, and it's vitamins are actually good if incorporated from time to time in a beauty routine. Here I will write about all the little shrewdnesses that you can remember easily and will help in a second to score in the beauty game.

• In the baby section at the drugstore you'll find sweet almond oil, for a ridiculously low price. Use it for hands and skin moisturizer after a shower or for complete hair and body masks before the shower (to be left 30min on the skin and hair). Still keep in mind that it is an oil, so even though it is beneficial for those with dry and normal skin it is not great for oily ones. But you'll see that once you start using it you won't look back. You can also do as Sophia Loren does, and pour a big spoon full of olive oil in the water of your bath tube.
• Before throwing away a juiced lemon rub it on your finger nails, it will strengthen and brighten them
• New shoes can be slippery, but you can rub half a raw potato on them to avoid any problems.
• If you happen to have brewer's yeast at home to make bread or food you can sprinkle some on a salad as an alternative to salt, it strengthens your hair and nails and helps overall the skin
• Two slices of cucumber over the eyes help them de-puff and moisturize them, while you get a few minutes of relax

These are just a few tips, but all of them an be applied whenever you happen to have these ingredients at home without having to sacrifice them for your beauty, but more use them as a by-product of your cooking.

What better way to start a post about mascara if not quoting the legendary Andriana Lima? The quest for a good mascara is always a long one, especially if your eyelashes are short, especially if they're not black, basically it is a long quest if you are me.

Mascara is that one product that doesn't need to be expensive to be effective. Many models or actresses confessed how they buy the supermarket ones and they work ine for them, so they should work fine for us.

One tip that I feel like giving away is how to find a good mascara, and also how to find the good mascara for a specific occasion.

As I already wrote my eyelashes are quite short and very light brown, so on their own they don't really frame my eye. What I found out is that the perfect mascara depends on the tip. For short eyelashes that are almost impossible to find at the corners of the eyes the good mascara it is a slightly curved one, the one that can cover the entire eye and not miss out any lash, just thanks to the shape of the tip. I had some mascaras before that had a straight tip and it simple took me too long to do well an entire eye, without overdoing some parts and without messing up either the corner of my eye or the outer part as I tried to catch every single lash.

My mascara of reference here, the one I have been using for years, is the Maybelline Colossal Cat Eyes, which is extra cheap and extra effective. I also recently tried the new Roller Lash by Benefit Cosmetics, as I found a sample in the March ELLE Uk magazine and bought it essentially for the sample. This one again has the same kind of tip, so it is extra good on my eyes, I reckon that the price for the full size product will be much more expensive, but all in all there is no much difference in the end result.

Straight tips are good for who has long lashes that just need to be combed and highlighted. The only mascara with staight tips that I use is a Yves Rocher one, the first Yves Rocher product I ever bought actually (oh the memories! I bought it the the South of France during a holiday in Antibes). Anyway this mascara works fine for me as it is brown, meaning it won't make my eyelashes too evident when I go for the no make up look. For some reason i think that black mascara on its own looks quite wierd on me, it could be the fact that my lashes are short, so I need something more subtle that will still make my eyes pop, but in a more natural way, and this mascara just does it for me.

In conclusion expensive mascara is not much different from the drugstore one, what really makes a difference is the kind of tip, the colour and the result you want to achieve. So you can cry with your mascara on, just make sure it is water-proof.

How many times do we touch our face? Studies show it happens 3.6 times per hour. This is probably the starting point for a better skin, because we can plump it with vitamins, creams, serums and whatever more, but nothing will solve all the damage that we do to our skin with  just our hands.

All our moms probably screamed at us when we tried to pick that pimple: "Don't touch it!", did we? Probably most of us no. We were 15, and young with nearly perfect skin on our own, a bit stressed by the hormonal change, but still a pretty good skin, that could recover from all the bad things we did to it. It is very probable that the picking at the time didn't scar the skin. However years have passed. Our skin was more damaged by our compulsive non-protected tanning, the going out, the not eating properly and maybe the smoking or the alcohol.

Now usually when we reach our early 20s our skin doesn't produce pimples anymore, but it can show that occasional redness, or little spots. What we do when we realize a spot is coming out is that we try to pick it, or we touch it, or rub it, and this is bad, very bad. At this point our skin is not that elastic anymore, or at least it has accumulated more problems over time, and its responsiveness to our picking is not as good, this is when acne scarring occurs, but there is more.

Our hands aren't clean most of the time, think about all the hours spent on your desk in front of your computer studying or working. That keyboard isn't clean, especially if another at least 5 people have touched it before you (if you're studying in the library this is probably the case). Just touching doors, desks or really whatever, including your phone, will deposit bacteria on your skin, not necessarily harmful, but still bacteria. This is why we wash our hands before eating, not to ingest said bacteria. Now, why would we cover our face in bacteria instead? It is known that they are the primary cause of spots and blackheads. This will lead to unwanted breakouts, as our immune system obviously wants them out, and as a vicious cycle we will touch our skin again. Funny thing (well sort of), some scientific studies proved that skin breakouts occur more often on the side of the face where we talk on our phones. The tip where would be either clean our phones with specific anti-microbial wipes, or keeping the phone not completely in contact with our ear and cheek.

Not touching our skin if not for moisturizing and putting on make up (here again hands should be washed before) will also make us save time in front of the mirror assessing and judging ourselves, and it can also reduce the chance of catching a flu or coming in contact with viruses or bacteria, as we can carry them on our hands but as long as they don't come in contact with mouth or nose we won't become sick.

This "beauty trick" is the cheapest favor you could do to your skin, and probably is a no-brainer, but I know that in reality it is more difficult than it seems as it's a natural and unwanted gesture to touch our face, but with a little control we can at least prevent bacterial breakouts.

As I scare tactic I will leave here the points for you to read again:

1. Touching leads to picking, which leads to scarring
2. It can cause acne breakouts
3. You can catch the flu
4. We're wasting too much time obsessing

It is quite common that you buy your foundation full of hope on the results . You see the ad picture, beautiful, glowy and natural looking. You go to Boots, try a bit of the tester on your hand to see if the colour matches and instantly in love you buy the foundation.

After a week or so of use you see that it is actually not so perfect on your face, maybe you got the colour right, but it looks a bit patchy on your nose, and that dry skin on your forehead looks so unnatural and badly covered. Unsatisfied you go and buy another foundation, hoping that this time you'll get it right.

At this point you have two choices, go and buy another Rimmel/Maybellin/Bourjois/ insert here low range product or you'll decide to splurge on a more expensive foundation that will probably be better because of the price tag. Then again you may find that the results are not satisfying.

This is how I wanted to look like (story of my life)

But why should you set  up for something meh, when you deserve and want something good?
You surely can't keep buying new foundations gambling to find a colour that suits you throughout the year and a formula that looks nice on your skin.

I was one of those girls, before deciding to buy a primer. Why did it take me so long? Because the primer was not a staple in make up routines for a very long time, in fact they just exploded on the market from a year to another, and I usually don't trust that much completely new products, I tend to think it is a new market manouvre to extort me money that should go on nights out or should just stay in my bank account.

I bought one out of desperation and because make up artists claimed it would have helped the skin to stay clearer and not absorb the make up particles. As usual, before settling down for a product I went on an extensive online research, Sephora, Ulta, makeupreally, you say it. Some products were said to be so good that you barely needed any make up at all on top of them (the Laura Mercier primer is supposedly so good in covering up pores that can be used on it own), obviously, these were the ones that were also the most expensive. However before deciding to waste a lot of money on a product that would not help me at all, I decided to find a cheaper one that had good reviews. That's how I bought the Sephora smoothing primer, as the primary problem of my skin is a bit of unevenness.

It was a complete game changer for my foundation. the make up would stay longer and look just like a second skin. The foundation I use is the Rimmel Wake me up, which is ment to give you a very matural and glowy finish, being a bit sparkly itself. In total my foundation and primer cost around £20, which can be a fraction of the price of a high range foundation alone (I used to use the Estee Lauder Double Wear, which is around £30 and just didn't improve at all my foundation problem).

The Sephora primer is quite small in size but a little goes a really long way, it leaves the skin very smooth and you can feel the foundation just slipping on top of it.

So yes you can get the perfect makeup look with  the aid of a primer, it is a little investment, but helps your low range foundation to look luxurious.


My saviour in a picture (I also apply it under the eyes when I put on my concealer, technically you should use a specific primer for face, eyes and lips, practically I use this one for both eyes and face, while on my lips I just dab lip balm as a base)

This is probably one of the questions that more often we ask ourselves and are not able to answer. We are taught by our moms, or websites the obliged steps of cleansing, toning and moisturizing are to be taken sice we are teenagers, but then, all of a sudden the eye cream comes out and we're not really sure at what age we should start using it.

We know that the skin around the eyes is the most delicate one, prone to show the first fine lines, how come then that again, most eye creams are heavily packed with aniti-aging products?

Taking it with the phisosophy "better anticipate than correct", eye creams should be used when we are young as well, to maintain that area the best possible, even before it starts to accuse the signs of age.

At this point there is another tricky question, what is the right cream for me? Again anti-ageing creams are ususally quite sticky and heavy, and our eyes still don't need this kind out cure. The anti-ageing products should be used, in my opinion, when we reach 25, more or less, depending on the conditions of our skin.

The product that I normally use around my eyes is the Yves Rocher Roll on 7.9 Elixir. Now this product states that is an anti ageing and it is part of an entire line that should work against wrinkles and so on, but Yves Rocher is also a natural skin care line, meaning that they use only plant derived produts and not much chemicals. Maybe because I study a scientific subject at uni, I am not always entirely convinced of the power of plant extracts alone. Yes they can increase a formula, but I am not entirely convinced that they can do the job alone. Why did i choose this product then? In general I really like the Yves Rocher products, and in this case "natural" for me means not harmful or useless chemicals on my skin. I obviously can't tell if it is actually a good anti-ageing product, but for me it does the job as a moisturizer.

I like the formula as it contains little sparkles inside, meaning that over all after an afflication the eye area is more luminous, and the metal beads on the tube are cold when they come in contact with my skin, meaning that they should constrict my blood vessels in the area and make my eyes look less tired in the morning. The formula is also quite light meaning that you don't feel the product for ages on your skin, for some reason it is a bit sticky in the start, but I suppose this is because eyes are more delicate.

I would reccomend this as a good start product to use around your eyes, I think it is perfect for 20yo that are looking for a start in the eye area, and being it an organic product makes me trust it more as non-harmful. I am pretty sure it is suitable for vegeterians as well, as all the Yves Rocher products.

Asian beauties and their skincare routine are lately taking over the internet. Their perfect porcelaine skins seem not to suffer any kind of age dacay, always luminous and young. And while we are here left wondering the miracle behing those pictures asian beauty brands and skincare routines are more and more successful. But should we believe the hype?

Surely the meticulosity that asian women put in taking care of their skin is great, and over time they gave us some very good tips and products (see the great history of excellance of Shiseido- you can read my experience here- and Shu Uemura). However we should keep in mind one thing that it is often untold about asian beauty, that is asian skin. Some might know and some might don't that asian people are genetically blessed with a thicker skin layer than caucasians. This can be a two sided blade as from one side a bad skin can be harder to correct, but from the other side good skin tends to stay this way, i.e. much less day to day changes and sudden stresses. I once read that actress Fan Bing Bing uses over 600 face masks over one year period, if this can be a good routine for her it doesn't mean it is for us non-asian women (except if you have a really resistant skin). Over moisturizing does actually more harm than good for the skin, as the excess product will help clogging your pores on their way out of the skin cells.

For the same reason I would not reccomend using all the products that are adveritsed by skin care houses as basic steps in a single routine, which can be up to 17 products. Again, overdoing is not good especially for young skins, that need the essentials in good quality rather than quantity.

I also noticed that asian skin care routines do rely a lot on oils, both for cleansing and for moisturizing. This can be a good thing for very dry skins, and I do recommend to switch to a cleansing oil for those with this kid of skin as very often normal cleansers seem to dry out a lot and irritate the drier skins. A good priced oil cleanser is the Etude House Real Art cleansing oil that is priced $12.80 for 200mL of product, and has very good reviews (I tried it myself but found it too oily for my skin type). A good cleanser for us with oily, normal or combinational skin is again from Etude House and it is called baking powder, sold at $7.50. This one is very effective without being harsh on the skin, it is actually one of the few cleansers that didn't tighten up my skin too much.

What they do right is the so called "face-exercising", it is basically giving yourself a good facial and it helps plumping the facial muscles. As for the body, exercizing and massaging the muscles of the face is a very good step for a future toned up face.

This is Melodee Morita DIY video for clearer skin

Also wearing daily high levels of SPF (the Shiseido one is amazing, but anyone would do, I use the nivea spray one) helps more than a lot to protect the skin from again, as we know that Uv rays are the primary cause of skin ageing. So less sunbathing and more protecting, and yes I am also talking to you, girl that lives in a cold and cloudy country like the UK, UV rays pass the clouds and get to your skin!

In conclusion, asian beauty routines have their ups and down, and it all falls back to how well you know your skin. Remember that there is no beauty routine that is perfect for all skin types and it is up to us to build up the best one for us.

This post is born again from personal experience. As a student it is quite easy that you have sleepovers, be it at your boyfriend's, be it at your casual boyfriend's or at your friends or some kind of field trip you will experience sleeping somewhere that is not your home.

If your plan is not being too hangovered the next day and skipping lectures than you might bring with you a bag with your uni stuff. Now this could not be a problem for most of you, but some of you might want to know how to maintain your skin care routine even in these situations, so here is my solution.

I absolutely hate the feeling of makeup on my skin after a few hours and religiously wash it off the moment I get back home, but when I got a boyfriend I found out that not taking off makeup was something that serially happened every time I would stay at his place.

I decided then not to sacrifice my skin for a night away from home and over time I made up my own mini skincare kit for nights out (or last minute week-end getaways).

The most important step is cleansing, in fact this could also be your only step, our skin is still so young that a day without moisturizer is not going to do much. So could be done is taking facial wipes with you in your bag (I would take them in clubs as well), wipes are not for everyday cleaning as they can be quite harsh on the skin and often contain alcohol, but they're good for exceptional nights. My go-to brand for this is Superdrug's own "Cleansing facial wipes" for combinational skin, delicate for the skin and have enough product to actually work. These were not my favourite ones, as I loved the Superdrug Skin Essential Cucumber wipes, but I believe these have been discontinued so I had to opt for something quite similar.

I am not sure about other facial wipes as I only used the Garnier ones, which were not so good ans still more expensive.

Now if you feel like adding more to your mini skincare kit you could opt for one of those moisturizers lying around in your room (don't lie, we all have one!) and take it with you. Preferably choose one that is not in a glass container as it is quite heavy. The one I sometimes take with me is the Hydra Active 3 by L'Oréal Paris. It is a good 24h cream with Vitamin E, ceramid and some salicylic acid. As technically we shouldn't use salicylic acid based creams every day, as it is afterall an exfoliator, I see this as a good opportunity for some time to time usage. This cream caused me a bit of redness at my first application, but apparently it is quite common for salicylic acid containing creams, and the problem has gone since that time.

This is all I bring with me on my nights away from home and it helps me feel better with my skin every day. For some additional day after make up, if you're not willing to go bare faced, but still can't take with you your entire makeup bag; then take one of those sample lying around you room or simply do as I do and take your highlighter with you to apply in the morning. I personally use theBenefit Watt's Up, an absolute game changer in my makeup routine.

I always found difficult finding a face cream, let's not say an entire morning routine, that would feel good on my skin. I went through creams that were too oily to ones that felt heavy. I think nowadays most companies focus on anti-aging creams rather than ones for young skin, and being 20 myself I am quite reticent in putting too many products in my skin, especially ones that are not yet needed.

I will start saying that I don't like toners, for some reason all the ones that I tried make my skin feel too tight, and that's not good. Also my skin type is quite weird, it definitely combinational, being oily on the nose, normal on my cheeks and dry on my forehead, so finding a cream that would not overdo my nose are but still be enough for my forehead is quite frustrating.

I came across the Shiseido Ibuki  when I was looking for products for young skins that should prevent and cure some imperfections. The full size products themselves are very expensive ( at Sephora the cleanser is about 30$ and the moisturizer 45$) so there was no way I would have bought a full size of those without having them tried out at least for a while, so I forgot about them and kept on with my previous routine including some Yves Rocher products.

Then, during my holidays in Portugal I "casually" ended up in a beauty shop (can't really remember the name, it was a local range) and saw that Shiseido had pulled out a starter kit, for €20 that contained the whole range (i.e. clanser, softning lotion and moisturizer) in 30mL bottles each and decided to give it a go. Note that the full size products are around 70 mL each, so I basically got half size of each product for an amount of money that would have not payed not even one of them full size, a real bargain.

I started using it as my routine religiously, every day twice a day. I probably thought it would have been a miracle product and at first I was quite disappointed, but now, 4 months afterwards I can give a honest opinion about it.

This is a great moisturizer for young skins, as the product is very nice and not heavy, getting absorbed very easily. It conitains some fragrance, but for me it is very pleasant and not irritating. It is good for not over moisturizing the skin, which is something that most girls my age will be bound to do, as most products nowadays are anti-aging and very concentrated. but will it take away all the blemishes and reduce the pores as advertised? No, it won't, you'll need to get a facial or somehow get rid of the blackheads yourself and then start using the product.

The softning concetrate is very nice on the skin, you should use it before the moisturizer instead of the toner. I really liked it as it helps the cream get into the skin better without being unpleasant, it really leave the skin softer, and here a little bit goes a long way. I think that in four months of use every morning and almost every night I consumed 1/3 of the product more or less.

The cleanser is not that good for me, again, it leaves my skin too tight, I don't use it that often, only once in a while under the shower, because I don't want my skin to feel that tight. I prefer using micellaire water for everyday cleansing, rather than that.

All in all I can say that right now I am quite satisfied with the kit, in the end it did give me a high end beauty routine with very nice products. I can only say, do not believe everything that is written on the ads, but still if you're young and looking for a good starter kit in the beauty world, the Ibuki starter kit is definitely a good option. Again the price of the range is very good and makes definitely a good investment, as it also seems that you use very little product to get the result needed.

Only overall flaw is the absence of SPF from the moisturizer, this is a no-no that the company tried to solve by adding on the market the same moisturizer with a SPF 18, which is still definitely low, and not present in the starter kit. It seems a countersense as the Ibuki line should help prevent future problems of the skin, and UV damage is the greatest of them all.

I always found drugstore products not quite satisfying as I would like them to be, and as I realize that they were a complete delusion I feel guilty for the 10£ or so that I spent on them.

Don't get me worng, there are some amazing drugstore products that I love (such as my great foundation Radiant glow, by Rimmel) but I always feel like it is a gamble buying them, especially as it is very rare getting samples for them.

I am here to talk about one of the products that, so far, have surprised me and proved me wrong. It's a face mask, called "No clogs allowed", by Soap & Glory.

I read some ravishing reviews online of the mask, and when I found myself in Boots, I couldn't resist and I bought it. The price isn't bad at all, 11.50£ for a 100mL bottle, and my experience is that little goes a long way with this one.

Let me talk about the texture of this mask, it feels weird to say the least. I cannot easily describe it, but it feels quite dry and smooth, it gives you a matte feeling, not like any other cream, gel or clay mask. It massages well in the skin and turns blue with a dab of water. You will feel a light heating of the skin as well, don't worry, this is completely normal and advertised on the box as well.

The mask itself is a very quick one, you need to leave it on only 5 minutes, which is perfect for the end of the day, when you can squeeze it between getting your stuff ready for the next day and brushing your teeth.

The result itself it quite good, it might be a placebo effect for me as I bought it last week and used it only a couple of times, but what is true is that my skin was super smooth and nourished and all the pores around my nose and fore head were not bumpy anymore.

The only downside is that when I tried to tak it off I felt some little beads, like the ones present in scrubs, and I think it did scrub a bit my face, in not such a pleasant way.

In conclusion I can say that this was definitely a good buy for me, and has helped my skin much more than other face and clay masks, the actual result on the blackheads still has to be seen, but even if that doesn't work it is a pretty amazing face mask.

Hi! This blog is mainly about beauty. I am a university student with a healthy obsession for beauty products at the constant quest of getting the perfect skin, that needs no tons of make up to glow and look healthy.